Eddie On Everything

Fraudulent calls from 904-398-4657

November 13, 2008 on 11:00 pm | In consumer protection |

Got a call from 904-398-4657 today, on my office line. After picking up and saying “Hello,” I was greeted with a pre-recorded message saying “Don’t be alarmed!”, and telling me that I had an important message waiting from “credit services.”

Curious, I hit 1 and was connected with a representative. “Sir, this is your last chance to save money on your account!”, I was told.

“What account?”, I asked.

“Your credit account!”, was the vague response.

“Oh, which of my creditors are you with?”

“We work with over 900 creditors, sir.”

“OK, so which one are you calling on behalf of?”

“This is you last chance, sir.”

“Let me get this straight - I don’t have an account with you, but you’re trying to make me think that I do. That’s pretty misleading. What is the name of your company?”

“Credit Services.”

“I see. And what is your address?”

Click.

That’s right, she hung up on me.

I get calls from telemarketers from time to time, but what makes me upset about this particular call is that I could see my grandmother falling for this scam. It was so vague, so misleading, that a prudent person could be led to believe that this was a legitimate call from a creditor. They even had carefully crafted misleading answers to direct questions like “Which of my creditors are you?” (”We work with over 900 creditors, Sir” was the response)

I did a few searches and found that these people completely ignore the Do Not Call List, and they use the same fraudulent schtick on everyone they call.

I filed a complaint with the FCC over this call, and will likely file a complaint with my states’ Attorney General next week.

If you get a call like this, please consider filing a complaint - it’s the only way to get these people shut down.

File a complaint with the FCC here